Anne Elise Thomas, PhD is an ethnomusicologist, writer, and music and dance performer with specialties in Arab musical traditions as well as Appalachian music and dance. In her work and research she advances an understanding of the potential for music and the arts to inform, inspire, and catalyze social change. Currently on the faculty of Sweet Briar College in central Virginia, she has worked with nonprofit arts organizations in education and outreach and consulted on grant-funded projects. Since 2014, she has directed Itraab Arabic Music Ensemble at Virginia Tech, and served as research fellow for the multi-year Salaam: Exploring Muslim Cultures project through Moss Arts Center. She holds an MA and PhD in Ethnomusicology from Brown University and a BA in Music from the College of William and Mary. An accomplished performer on qanun (a 78-stringed Arab zither), piano, harpsichord, fiddle, and Appalachian clogging, she is also an active teaching artist and has been on the Virginia Commission for the Arts Teaching Artist Roster since 2016.

Katy Shepard is a practicing artist and philosopher focusing on the intersection of art, identity, and social justice. In her work she emphasizes the moral responsibility that is being human, as outlined by existentialist ethics (drawing influence from Frantz Fanon, Simone De Beauvoir, and Jean Paul Sartre).  Shepard expects to graduate May 2021 with PhD Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought. During this program she held assistantships working for the Moss Arts Center Salaam Project as well as the Sustainability Office at VT. She holds an MA Philosophy from VT as well as BA Studio Art, BA Philosophy, and BA Political Science. Currently, Shepard is adjunct faculty for the Philosophy departments at Virginia Tech and Radford University. In addition to being an active artist in the NRV community, she serves as a member of both the Arts Council for the Town of Christiansburg and the planning committee for the Montgomery Museum of Art & History’s annual art events. Previously, Shepard has curated and directed gallery shows at the Perspective Gallery at VT and at The Artists Cradle (Stafford, VA), a teaching studio she owned and operated prior to returning to graduate school. She has acted both in the role of regional adjudicator and instructor for the Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s School for Visual and Performing Arts. Her passion for ethics lends itself specifically to a passion for accessibility to education and participation in the arts as a means to positive social impact. 

Creativity as a catalyst for personal, institutional, and societal progress. This mission has driven Jon Catherwood-Ginn’s work in domains as diverse as urban public schools, Off-Broadway theatre companies, national service organizations, regional planning commissions, juvenile detention centers, and Research I universities. These experiences have afforded him the privilege of collaborating with MacArthur Fellows, Obie-, Tony-, and Grammy Award-winners in the development of educational programs and new works. As an educator, he couples openness—rooted in years of music and theatre improvisation–with goal-oriented backwards design. He practices community engagement as a dialogue: a “give-and-take” that—when authentic, equitable, reciprocal, and courageous—yields richer results than the sum of its parts. Jon Catherwood-Ginn is the associate director of programming at the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech. Jon received a B.A. with Honors from Bucknell University and M.F.A. from Virginia Tech, where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Planning, Governance, & Globalization. From 2015-17, Jon served as an inaugural member of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ Leadership Fellows program. As an artist, reviewer, and consultant, Jon has worked with several institutions. His work has been featured at conferences by the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, Network of Ensemble Theaters, Imagining America, APAP, Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities,and other. His writings have been published in Arts and Community Change: Exploring Cultural Development Policies, Practices and Dilemmas (Routledge, 2015) and Animating Democracy’s “A Working Guide to the Landscape of Arts for Change” series.